[Review] 'Butt Boy' is a Golden Nugget of Hilarious Absurdity

Horror is one of the most versatile genres around. You can take any premise in your imagination and create something wholly unique...

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...​From sentient tires hellbent on destruction to killer klowns from outer space, there seems to be no shortage of batshit crazy stories to tell and Butt Boy is no exception.

Tyler Cornack directs, co-writes and stars in this future cult classic/guilty pleasure film as Chip Gutchell, a typical mundane suburban family man who, after a routine prostate exam (in a scene that was reminiscent of the 2007 film Teeth), descends into a deadly spiral when he becomes addicted to inserting things into his anus…including pets and people.

Enter Detective Russel Fox, your typical detective with the messy hair, killer car and complicated backstory played by Tyler Rice. While the pair have met in an AA meeting previously, it’s not until a crime occurs that the two begin to circle each other in typical good guy/bad guy fashion. 

Rice’s performance as Detective Fox is the best out of the two. While Cornack plays Chip in a way that sort of resembles a blank wall in the sense that you never really know what is going on in his head or what he is feeling, Rice plays the exact opposite with Fox. You see the humanity inside and can see what he is going through in his mind as he begins to unravel the mystery surrounding him.

​Now while the premise of Butt Boy may have you scratching your head, the first half is well worth the slow buildup to the final act. Because when the film reaches that third act is when the film really takes off. 

By unveiling a twist that will have you going back to the prologue and wondering how you missed that small detail to a sequence that feels like something out of Magic Schoolbus, this climax takes everything you’ve seen before in a completely new and unexpected direction and will leave you with an ending in the vein of Society or Sleepaway Camp.

Cornack’s directing stands out best during this final arc with one sequence taking place over the backdrop of a game of laser tag. 

Cormack delivers moments throughout the film not only as the director but as one of the lead characters where you can feel the necessity to feed Chip’s addiction while also highlighting moments of isolation delivered through the use of a memorable score which was done along with Co-Writer Ryan Koch. The two also combine for some very well done sound editing.

The film uses its unique perspective to tell a tale of addiction while also touching upon possible psychological issues and/or sexual ones as well with a montage sequence that does a nice job of displaying the spiral of their addictions.

Dealing with these issues in its unique way, the film itself at times knows that it's not a serious film and gives us scenes of hilarity even if it’s something as simple as a fart joke. 

Butt Boy is a film I went into with preconceived notions from the title and trailer alone but found myself falling in love with by time the credits rolled. If this is what the duo of Cornack and Koch can deliver as a film team, then I cannot wait to see what else they will do in future projects.

This film has all the makings of becoming a cult film. It's one of the weirdest yet pleasantly surprising films I’ve seen in 2020 and is highly worth the watch. Maybe make a movie night of it by pairing it with other zany films such as John Dies at the End or Wolf Cop. 

Enter Butt Boy when the film releases on VOD April 14th from Epic Pictures. 

By Kalani Landgraf